Power Shift (Book 1)

Chapter 12: Urgent Care

Winning Choice: Race down to St. Joseph’s Hospital.

Author's Note: This is a bit of a long chapter, but I wanted to tackle some of the questions that people had been asking and set up a pretty serious decision at the end. Let me know what you think!

Brandon found a cellphone in the church that indicates a meeting of some kind is happening in just a few minutes at a hospital across town…

I’ll wait to call this phone number back, as this meeting sounds a lot more important. It’s almost 10:00 so I cinch up my hood and start running. The key seems to be taking it slow and building up speed as I go. That gives my senses time to adjust and by the time I’m really hauling I can navigate the cars, streets, and people pretty easily. 

Pouring on the speed it’s like the cars are standing still and I’m running through a world nearly frozen in time. My euphoria fades quickly as the cramps hit again, worse than ever. It feels like my insides are being beaten up. My stomach clenches and fire rips through my muscles. Crashing into something would be a disaster right now, so I slow down and focus on the ground in front of me and keep running. The pain subsides, but this time there’s a lingering twinge.

St. Joseph’s Hospital is a sprawling complex and there’s only a few minutes before ten when I arrive. This time the best bet probably isn’t one of my new powers, but something a bit more mundane. Slowing down to normal speed behind some office buildings across the street, I trot through the front door of the hospital to the Information Desk. Seated behind the desk is a gray haired man in his sixties or so. His name tag identifies him as “Doug” and tells me he can answer all my questions. 

I wish. 

“Hi, I’m looking for your research department,” I tell him.

Doug smiles with a look of patience that comes from having heard nearly every stupid question a person can come up with. “We’re one of the largest research hospitals in this part of the country, so we have several different departments doing research. Which one do you need?”

“Um… I forget the name. It works on helping people… get stronger.” Clearly my intellect didn’t get the upgrades my muscles did, but what else would they call it? The Super Hero Division?

Doug raises an eyebrow quizzically. “Physical therapy? We do have a research area for that in addition to our main physical therapy center.”

“No, it’s not physical therapy. It was something more tied to biology.” Maybe this isn’t going to work after all.

“Is there a Doctor or researcher in the department I could look up?” he asks.

What the heck, I figure. “Mandeville.” 

Doug types away into a terminal, then frowns. He clicks another screen and tries again. As he types my pain comes back. Not as a twinge or a cramp, but as a building wave of heat across my entire body. Everything gets louder and brighter, and my legs start to get rubbery. I need to get somewhere private, but can barely stand.

Doug turns to me. “I’ve checked all of our systems and I can’t find… sir, are you okay?” He stands up and reaches over the desk to try and steady me, but it’s too late. The pain washes over me and a growing haze curls in around the edges of my vision. It won’t push away, and I hear crashing and crunching as I flail around, but it seems as if it is far off in the distance. There is some yelling and I feel hands all over me as I topple backwards into darkness.

When I wake up I feel like I’m under water. It’s tough to catch my breath and my muscles feel dead and soft. The ceiling is white and sterile, and there are machines all around me. It takes a moment to realize I’m in the hospital, but when I do my heart begins racing with a fear that they’ve caught me again. I try to sit up but I’m strapped down to a gurney with thick leather cuffs. Flashes of the weeks spent in the warehouse hit me, and I pull at the restraints as hard as I can. The right one creaks and tears free, but the effort leaves me panting. My strength seems almost gone.